The Barneswald Adventures: Lights Out (Series 1)
by marvelwho
Summary: 4/7. Lights Out: A young boy is absolutely terrified of the dark so counsellor Lucy Charles calls upon best friend Clara Oswald for help. Clara soon becomes involved in a trip to a haunted house where she learns the truth about the darkness and what lurks within.
1. Chapter 1

The urban metropolis of excited shoppers created an uncomfortable atmosphere as Clara walked past the many franchises. The clustered sound of voices was irritating and she had just missed out on a chance to get a jumper in a shop when her phone rang.

'Hello?' she asked, dropping one of her bags so she had to pick them back up again.

'Clara,' the voice said. 'I need your help.'

'Oh Lucy. What's happened now? Did you drop your house phone down the drain again?'

'No,' Lucy Charles bit her lip. 'You know how I do that counselling for kids thing? There's this one kid who is terrified of the dark and I wanted someone to help talk to him.'

'OK,' she prolonged her words, brushing past a tall man. 'I can't help with that to be honest. I'm not exactly a therapist.'

'You work with kids five days a week and he has insomnia because of his problems. I have to speak to him at nights too because his parents are always working during the day and some Belarusian maid has to look after him. Could you please not just come and have a word with him? I've tried fifteen times and I can't get a single word out of him. It's at 9 tonight.'

'I'm going on that night out with Bucky. Mind you we get back from the restaurant at about 8.30pm. I suppose I could come but that's only as a friend helping out a friend.'

'Thanks. I'll text you the address.'

Hanging up, the schoolteacher placed her phone back in the pocket and made her way out of the shopping centre. As she bumped into someone, she knocked some of their papers down onto the ground. Helping them pick them back up again, she apologised to the woman.

The woman watched as Clara walked off and then stared at the ID card she had stolen from her pocket.

'Sir,' she spoke into a device in her right ear. 'I made contact with Clara Oswald. I have her ID.'


	2. Chapter 2

So what is this ghost hunting thing?' Clara asked Bucky as they both left the restaurant.

'I booked us two tickets to do that ghost hunting tour at Illingham House. It's that old haunted one at the top of that hill. This company do ghost tours there and I always thought it'd be a cool idea. You know, explore some creepy old rooms; that kinda stuff.'

Clara slowly turned to stare at him as they walked down the street and he noticed her make-up in the glowing of the streetlight. A twisted wry grin indicated something didn't feel right for Clara.

'What's up with you?' he said to her.

'Are you seriously considering this? I'd rather not go cavorting around haunted houses and using Ouija Boards to entertain myself. If I was going to do that I'd buy the 24 boxset and watch it all day.'

'Well it's paid for now,' he grinned.

Walking through the desolate street, one of the lamps was flickering; the light slipping into nothingness. Clara shivered and so Bucky glanced at her outfit. A small blue dress accompanied by a thin blue jacket was not the most suitable of attire for such a tempestuous night. Thunder roared loudly in the night sky.

'This kid I have to see,' she began. 'Lucy told me he was terrified of the dark and she can't even convince him there's nothing to worry about.'

'Good luck with it.'

'I told her I'd speak to him for five minutes and that's it. She's a qualified therapist yet she still needs a schoolteacher to tell her how to do her job. It's absolutely Ludacris. I'm going to end up smacking that woman.'

Turning the corner, Bucky turfed out his pocket to reveal a £5 note. Staring at it in confusion, his girlfriend asked what he was doing with it.

'If you're going to go and spend some of the night talking to some terrified kid then I am going to get a pizza.'

'Bucky,' she slapped his arm. 'You just had a three course dinner with wine. It's no wonder you've put three pounds on in the last two weeks.'

Just as he was about to say something, Clara recognised the street name on the other side of the road. Jameson Avenue. Saying goodbye to Bucky she walked off, her high heels creating a noise in the street. Noticing an adjacent pizza shop, her lover ran across the road to reach it.

James Avenue was very eerie. The thunder crackled again and the fog made it hard for Clara to see her environment. The odd streetlight bled through the mist as she examined the houses, trying to find the one Lucy was in.

Eventually, she spotted the house with '13' written on it and so she quietly opened the gate just in case it wasn't the right house. Passing a broken gnome, she made her way up the three stone steps until she arrived at the green door. Knocking on it with her right hand, she patiently waited. It soon swung open.

A small woman who looked about 50 was stood there. She had blonde scruffy hair and possessed the face of a sad bulldog. She showed no emotion whatsoever and it was up to Clara to break the uncomfortable silence.

'Hey,' she awkwardly waved at the woman. 'I don't suppose there's someone called Lucy in here is there?'

'LUCY,' the woman shouted up the staircase and so the English teacher held her ears for a short while. 'THERE'S SOMEONE HERE FOR YA. You a friend?'

'Yeah,' she forced a smile. 'You know what these people are like. They're always inviting their mates over.'

'Clara,' Lucy Charles said from the top of the staircase dressed in a red jumper with a black collar.

'I'll leave you two to it,' the woman said and went back inside her red living room.

As Clara came in and shut the door, Lucy began making her way to the bottom of the staircase. It was quite warm in the house and so Clara took her jacket off.

'So the kid's called George,' she said as they both made their way up the stairs. 'I've told him you were on your way. He hates the dark so much he's got lights almost everywhere in his room.'

Opening the bedroom door, Clara walked in and was about to speak to Lucy when she realised her friend had shut the door. Rolling her eyes, she spotted George in the bed. He was only about 8 or 9 and seemed a bit scared.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Clara folded her arms and grinned.

'Hi. I'm Clara. Lucy told me you're afraid of the dark.'

Nervously shaking his head, George then glanced at the corner of his room. Located right beside a white wardrobe, the corner was dimly lit with a small chair. Turning back to look at the young boy, Clara thought of what to say.

'The dark can't hurt you,' she adopted a more comforting tone of voice. 'All it is a place with no light.'

'I'm not really scared of the dark,' the kid said which evoked puzzlement in Lucy's friend.

'Well what are you scared of then?'

'I'm scared of what's in it.'

A little shiver went up Clara's back but she dismissed it.

'The only thing in the dark is particles and gas. There's not much more than that.'

'Can't your hear it?'

'Hear what, George? I… can't hear anything.'

'You can't hear the darkness? All it ever does it whisper and tease and taunt. I can hear it sometimes if I listen. Listen. Just listen. You can hear it laughing almost like it's teasing you and messing with you. Don't you see things in the dark sometimes?'

As George prevailed his sentences, Clara felt a little nervous. She could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

'There's the odd shadow that you see. Then sometimes for a split second you can see someone standing there.'

As a flash of lightning went off outside, Clara turned around and in the flash of light, she saw someone in the dark corner. The outline was of a male figure and it was only there for a second. Not wanting to alarm George she pretended to be fine after he asked her what was wrong.

Bucky was sat in the apartment on the leather sofa. He was watching a comedy TV show with a bowl of popcorn and chuckled at one scene when he heard the latch on the door. Muting the television, he rotated himself to see Clara walk through the front door. She was holding her shoes in her hands and she threw them on the floor.

'You look a bit shaken,' he said.

'None taken,' she took her jacket off and placed it on the coat rack. Walking over to the kitchen, she plonked her handbag on the side and so Bucky approached her.

'Are you excited for tomorrow's ghost hunt?'

When Bucky said that, it made her think about the figure she saw in George's bedroom. She bit her lip and shook her head.

'Listen,' she said. 'Something weird happened tonight.'


	3. Chapter 3

sunset consumed the land below. Illingham House was illuminated by the dying sun as a few paying ghost hunters listened to the stories of the events manager. She was a tall woman with curly ginger hair and a Scottish accent.

'Illingham House is said to be full of ghosts,' she smiled at the guests. 'Legend says they stalk the shadows of the corridors and the rooms. Mind you, judging by the fashion sense of some of you all, I'd say you're the ghosts.'

Clara noticed her take a look at her beige dress and mustard turtleneck underneath and she scowled in disgust.

Walking into the grand opulent hall of the house, Bucky and Clara stared at the old paintings on the green walls. Earls and Ladies with neutral facial expressions watched the guests as they all made their way into centre of the hall. Laying out their sleeping bags, they all stood and waited for the event manager to speak again.

'Dinner will be held in the next room. After which we shall all have our two hour ghost tour and then bed down for the night.'

As she led them all into the other room, Bucky nudged Clara and showed her a blue and white phone-like device. The white matched his plain t-shirt whilst the blue matched his jeans.

'Look what I ordered from SHIELD.'

'What is it?'

'It's a communications device. It was made by Fitz and Simmons over on the SHIELD plane. It locks onto particles in the air so if there is something in this house we can speak to it.'

'Wow,' she placed her hands on her hips. 'What a lovely original way to communicate with ghosts.'

'Are you two coming?' the events manager called from the kitchen and so they both nodded their head.

As Bucky left Clara's side to stroll into the kitchen, she froze. A figure stood in the dimly lit door frame of the entrance. As she turned to tell Bucky, she looked back to see it was no longer there.


	4. Chapter 4

'These are the corridors in which Earl Illingham would chase his beloved kids but now they are the barren passageways to hellish rooms.'

'This woman's great, isn't she?' Clara sarcastically bit. 'I can just see her working for Location, Location, Location.'

Walking down another corridor, a couple overtook Bucky and Clara meaning they were now at the back and Clara felt as if she was being followed. Looking behind her, she saw an empty dark corridor with a vase at the end. As she turned the corner, she failed to notice the silhouette watching her.

Bucky reached into his pocket and pulled out his particle communication device and activated it so Clara turned it off again, much to Bucky's disappointment.

'Put that thing away!'

'Clara,' Bucky adopted an alluring cheeky smirk. 'People will wonder what you're seeing.'

Jokingly punching his arm, Bucky giggled but Clara crossed her arms as they continued walking with the group.

'I'm serious,' the female snatched the device out of his bare hands. 'We're walking through air which has loads of particles so it'll go off every two seconds.'

'Actually it's designed to lock onto a change in particles. Fitz and Simmons said that in the presence of a figure or living being, the particles move more to allow space for the being to be there. This detects that change.'

The event manager opened a new door which lead to a staircase, elongating down into a pit of total blackness.

'These were the dungeons,' she led the group down into the unknown. 'Earl Illingham was extremely clear about those that crossed him. In fact, in one of his many autobiographies he said the following – 'Those who disobey or cross thee shall end up in the cages of despair. There they shall face punishment and devastation.'

'Lovely,' a man whispered to his wife.

Bucky heard his phone ping and ignored it when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Screaming, he made most of the group jump and Clara asked him what was wrong. He pointed to the figure in one of the cells but the event manager laughed. Turning the torch on, she shined a light on the figure to reveal it was a plastic human-sized mannequin.

'Don't worry sir,' she snorted to herself. 'You're not the first person to scream at them.'

Continuing on with the tour, Clara laughed to herself and stared at an embarrassed Bucky. He went a little red and ushered her out of the dungeons just as another figure stepped out from the shadows.

Skimming through the book shelves, Clara pulled out a poetry book. Noticing a poem called 'Lights Out', she started reading it.

_You hear it sometimes, don't you?_

_You tell yourself you're wrong_

_That there's nothing there at all_

_But you always hear its song_

_The darkness sometimes waits for you_

_It waits sat on your bed_

_Sometimes it chooses to follow thee_

_And waits inside your head_

'OK,' Clara placed the book next to her and crawled into her sleeping back. 'That's quite enough of that.'

'Goodnight,' the event manager said to everyone as they bedded down in the main hall. 'Sleep tight and don't let the ghosties bite.'

As she flicked the main light off, Clara placed her head on the pillow she brought with her. Staring at the ceiling, she noticed the large silver chandelier. Surprisingly, it seemed as if it was swinging a little. Shaken, she turned on her side where she tried to drift off but it wasn't easy.

Bucky Barnes was awoken by a shoulder shake. Opening his eyes, she saw Clara crouched over him. Asking her what she was doing, he remembered where he was.

'Bucky,' she quietly admitted. 'I need the toilet but I am not walking through that corridor on my own.'

'Clara,' he sat up and rubbed his eyes. 'You're 28. The Bogeyman isn't going to snatch you.'

She folded her arms and so Bucky pulled the sleeping bag duvet off of him and stood up.

'Come on then,' he helped her off of the floor. 'If a ghost comes I'll save you.'

Opening the door to the corridor by the main hall, Clara spotted the toilet door at the end of it. However it seemed like it was miles away. Darkness spilled out onto the passageway and then Bucky tried to find the light switch but he couldn't.

'Go on then.'

'Come with me.'

'Oh for heaven's sake,' he rolled his eyes unintentionally.

As they began walking down the corridor, the silence screamed at the pair. Bucky started feeling a little nervous as they left the safety and security of the group who were all asleep.

'Don't you find it weird?' she said to Bucky. 'This house used to have so much history and now it's the focus point of some money-grabbing company.'

'My feet are freezing,' Bucky moaned.

'Well you're the one that decided to walk down a laminated corridor with bare feet.'

Suddenly, Clara noticed the particle communication device in Bucky's pocket. She questioned him about it and he said he didn't know he had it in there.

Without warning, Clara shrieked and stopped her boyfriend in his path. When he realised why she stopped, his heart stopped beating. There, in front of them stood a figure in the darkness, guarding the toilet door. Only its outline was visible and Bucky hesitantly and slowly held the device up.

'Don't run,' the device said in an almost screeching tone. 'Please. Don't run.'

'What… what are you?' Bucky was too scared to even move never mind run.

'I am the darkness. I can never find my brothers and sisters.'

'Hang on,' Bucky began breathing heavily as Clara held onto him tight. 'The particles are reacting. The particles… the particles are alive and conscious.'

'I don't know what my brothers and sisters look like. I'm lonely. We're all lonely. We never see our brothers and sisters.'

'If the particles are living why do they take on the form of human figures?' Clara bravely managed to ask.

'Humans will only talk to humans. They never hear me when I'm just particles floating in the air. They never see me. When I take human form I want them to recognise and speak to me but they run and hide. I'm so lonely.'

'Right,' Bucky tried to process this. 'The particles in the darkness are alive and conscious. There are millions of particles around you so why can't you see them?'

'We never see one another. One particle can create human form if it's lonely enough. They're all around me but I can never see them.'

The device began screeching loudly and then sparks flew out of the device. Dropping it, Bucky and Clara watched as the figure decayed into nothingness.


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight had returned to the land. It dropped a blanket of light onto Illingham House. Inside, Clara Oswald was reading the poetry book from the night before and Bucky sat down beside as everyone was packing up, ready to leave the house.

'I can't believe the particles in the dark are aware they exist and they can't even see each other,' he shook his head slowly.

Closing the book, Clara sneakily hid it in her bag and waited until the event manager to walk past until she zipped the bag up.

'It is sad,' she said. 'That particle last night said that it was so lonely. It had to take on the form of humans to get close to them.'

'It just goes to show us that there are still unusual things in this world. Most of them science doesn't know about.'

The pair stood up and left the house while Clara rang her good friend Lucy.

'Lucy? You working with George tonight?'

'Yes.'

'Is it OK if I speak to him again? I think I know how to defeat his phobia.'


	6. Chapter 6

Walking up the three stone steps again, Clara knocked on the green door, wearing the same dress and turtleneck. To her surprise, it was Lucy who opened the door and she smiled at her.

'George is in his room,' she said. 'What's that book?'

'Oh just something I came across last night.'

Lucy waited outside the room as Clara opened the door and smiled at George who was in the bedroom. He was sat staring at the dark corner, his heart racing. Sitting on the end of his bed, she showed him the poetry book from Illingham House.

'I hate nights,' he admitted. 'I have to sleep in the darkness sometimes when the power goes. Did you find anything in the dark?'

'I went on a ghost hunt with my boyfriend this weekend. I had to sleep in the dark too. You were right. There was something in the dark. Something I had misunderstood.'

Frightened, George's eyes enlarged and so laid down and pulled the covers closer to his face.

'But,' she smiled and so he became a bit less scared. 'The thing in the dark was nice. I found this book at the house we had the ghost hunt at and I came across a poem called 'Lights Out.' I read a bit of it and it made me even more scared of the dark although I never finished the poem.'

George watched her find the page and he turned on his side, feeling a little bit better in Clara's company. She started to read from the poetry book as she glared at the pages.

_'__Lights Out by R.J Keane_

_You hear it sometimes don't you_

_You tell yourself you're wrong_

_That there's nothing there at all_

_But you always hear its song_

_The darkness sometimes waits for you_

_It waits sat on our bed_

_Sometimes it chooses to follow thee_

_And waits inside your head_

_You can never seem to escape the dark_

_It's with you every night_

_And all it ever does to you_

_Is give you a nasty fright_

_But have you ever sat and thought_

_And wondered why it's there_

_Maybe its intentions are pure_

_And maybe not to scare_

_The darkness is crying out_

_Looking for a friend_

_It always begs you to listen_

_When will your fear end?_

_Embrace the darkness always_

_And never let it go_

_Because it's lonely and wants to be with you_

_And that's all it's trying to show_

Clara leaned over and switched George's bedside lamp off and smiled at the figure in the corner.

'Lights out.'


End file.
